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Smart glasses, which industries are leading the way?

The enterprise smart glasses market is no longer an obscure, futuristic idea. Its impact is real and tangible for many businesses. We surveyed 1,036 senior IT decision makers, in medium and large organisations in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Benelux (Netherlands and Belgium) and found that 82% of enterprises predict that smart glasses will be used within their business in the next three years. But what is the driving force behind this uptake? Which industry is taking on this technology? And what are the key benefits?

Driving forces

Factors vary across Europe on the driving force behind smart glasses. Our research shows the arrival of 5G is the biggest driving force (40%) followed by advancements in AR (37%) and the need for a more efficient workforce (35%). Whilst not in the top three, the arrival of more Windows 10-based smart glasses solutions (28%) is a notable factor in driving uptake across European businesses.

Industry leaders

Engineering is leading the way for smart glasses adoption with 25% already deploying smart glasses and a further 47% planning to do so in the next 12 months. Government / public sector will see the lowest level of implementation in the short to medium term with only 28% likely to implement smart glasses in the next 12 months and 25% in the next 1-2 years. Spain has seen the biggest rate of adoption with 26% already deploying smart glasses whilst France (22%) and Germany (21%) round out the top three. UK (18%) and Benelux (15%) is only seeing low level deployment although the UK sees 38% of those surveyed looking to deploy smart glasses in the next 12 months.

Key benefits

Smart glasses are designed to provide next-level business efficiency. Our research showed 59% of those working in the manufacturing industry stated hands-free functionality as a potential benefit of smart glasses, compared to just 42% of those working in the Transport/ Logistics industry. Manufacturing businesses are more likely to reference the need for a more efficient (44%) and productive (43%) workforce whereas improved on-site capabilities was considered a benefit of smart glasses by 55% of those working in engineering. Improved information capture / data processing (40%) also featured highly on the best benefits of smart glasses.